Taliban claims responsibility for Kabul explosion, gunfight underway

Afghan policemen keep watch near the site of a bomb blast in Kabul, Afghanistan August 1, 2016. REUTERS/ Omar Sobhani

Washington: The Taliban has claimed responsibility for explosion that rocked a hotel in Kabul, Afghanistan early Monday morning and a fierce gunfight is underway between security forces and the assailants.

According to CNN, The statement from the Afghan Taliban described the blast as a truck-laden suicide bombing at the gate of the Northgate Hotel.

A security services official said four heavily armed attackers were fighting on the site of the hotel, a secure residential compound for foreign military and civilian organizations.

In central Kabul, the sound of the explosion immediately followed widespread power cuts that were possibly caused by the blast, although it was not clear if the two were connected.

There were no immediate details on casualties

The Taliban have claimed most of the attacks in the central Asia country, but ISIS claimed the suicide attack a week ago in Kabul that killed at least 80 and wounded more than 200 during a protest by the Hazaras, a Shia minority group.

On June 30, the Taliban claimed responsibility for two suicide bombers who attacked a convoy of five buses carrying 219 newly graduated Afghan police officers just west of Kabul, killing 30 officers and four civilians and wounded 60. (ANI)